The Ghost of Christmas Past

Well, another Christmas has come and gone, and I have some real mixed feelings on just how it came and went. On one hand I received some wonderful gifts from my family. Gifts that I will certainly use and cherish for a long time to come. Great memories are always some of the wonderful gifts of Christmas, and this Christmas came through with flying colors in that department with memories of all of my children and grandchildren together under the same roof that will delight my thoughts for the rest of my life.

We all got along so well, laughing and loving to a degree that could make your cheeks sore and your funny-bone tender. However, though I felt God’s presence the entire time as well as I am sure most others did, it just seemed that God was not the center piece of the celebrations. Maybe that was just felt by me, and maybe I felt that way because I failed to place God in the center of the celebrations. All I know for sure is that I did not feel God in the center of the events and because of that I feel like Christmas was broken.

The outcome of Christmas 2010 for me is an understanding that God must be the center piece of my life if I am ever going to feel God’s presence as the center piece in any celebration with or without His name attached to it. Rituals and practices are not the things that make God the center piece of society, my heart does.

I may not have learned that on Christmas Day, but I will always consider it mine finest Christmas gift!